August 2020

Monster Harvest, a farming and fighting sim in which you can grow mutant crops for battle, was just unveiled at the Future Games Show.

Monster Harvest has huge Stardew Valley-like vibes from the art style to the gameplay, but it has a twist. You can grow “Planimals,” which are sentient creatures that will assist you in battle against other monsters as you explore dungeons and other parts of the world.

Grow your Planimals and battle with them in order to earn money and rewards that can be used to upgrade your farm and house.

This will allow you to grow new types of crops and creatures as well as buy or craft more customization items to decorate with.

Basically, Monster Harvest seems like an amazing crossover between games such as Stardew Valley and Pokemon. If this seems like your type of game, you can learn more about the game and see some screenshots on its Steam page.

The game’s description on Steam is as follows:

Monster Harvest is a monster collecting and farming action RPG with a twist! Grow, collect and mutate your crops then take them into battle! Filled with places to discover and multiple ways to build your farm, get ready to craft, explore and battle across the vibrant world of Planimal Point.

So far, Merge Games has not announced a release date for Monster Harvest, but the trailer says that it is “coming soon” to consoles and PC. The exact time frame and platforms are still unclear.

You can watch the reveal trailer for Monster Harvest below, and be sure to follow Twinfinite for more games that were announced during the Future Games Show.

If you didn’t tune into GamesRadar’s Future Game Show today, then you missed out on one of the biggest video game announcements in the history of video games. Yup, that’s right. Shadow-dropped on Steam today, You Can Pet The Dog VR is available right now.

You can check out the game right here on Steam. It costs $5 (what a steal) and you must have a VR headset to play it.

It has a dog, a house, and you can pet that dog, and you can also play fetch with that dog with a stick. It’s a very relaxing, stress-free, virtual reality experience that you possibly cannot find anywhere else.

You Can Pet The Dog VR is also set in the opening sequence of an upcoming game called Doggone, which comes from the same development team, Raconteur Games. It’s an interesting way to promote a title for sure, but as long as there pettable dogs, I’m all in.

You can check out the trailer here:

During the Future Games Show presentation today, Modus Games, Dreams Uncorporated, and Syck showed off a brand-new gameplay trailer for Cris Tales, an upcoming turn-based RPG coming to current and next-gen consoles.

It’s heavily inspired by JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Valkyrie Profile, and even some modern heavy-hitters, but what makes Cris Tales unique is its time-travel combat mechanic.

For example, you can splash water on an enemy who has a suit of armor and then send him forward in time to rust hid shield/armor, leaving him open for attack. But there’s also a chance that the enemy could become more powerful as an older warrior, so you have to strategize and think twice before changing time.

You can watch the latest trailer for Cris Tales right here via Modus Games’ YouTube channel:

Cris Tales is set to launch on Nov 17 for Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The turn-based RPG will also be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Today during the Future Games Show, Ubisoft presented a new gameplay video of Watch Dogs Legion.

We get to see a recruitment mission in which we try to bring one of the NPCs into the fold of our resistance group. 

Below you can check out the video that was showcased during the event.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, you can read an official description below.

In the near future, London is facing its downfall: the people are being oppressed by an all-seeing surveillance state, private militaries control the streets, and a powerful crime syndicate is preying on the vulnerable. The fate of London lies with you, and your ability to recruit a resistance and fight back.

Play as Anyone

Watch Dogs: Legion delivers a never-before-seen gameplay innovation that allows you to recruit and play as anyone from the entire population of London. Anyone you see can join your resistance and has a unique backstory, personality, and skillset.

Customize your Recruits

A new trailer detailing gameplay for the upcoming remake of classic mobster simulator Mafia was shown off during the Future Game Show.

A full remake of the 2002 original, Mafia Definitive Edition’s mechanics are based off those present in 2016’s Mafia 3, and developer Hanger 13 is making sure the look and feel of the game is true to the original.

Mafia tells the story of the bloody rise of the Salieri crime family during the early 1930’s in the fictional city of Lost Heaven, which is based on real-world Chicago during that time period.

You play as former taxi-driver Thomas “Tommy” Angelo, who’s fate is intertwined with the fortunes of the Salieri’s after he is caught up in a violent encounter with the Salieri’s bitter rivals, the Morello family.

Gameplay is primarly that of a third person cover based shooter, although there are vehicles to and an open world to interact with ala the Grand Theft Auto series.

New to Mafia Definitive Edition is the inclusion of motorcycles, which is a first for the series, and should make for a fresh spin on navigating the streets of New Heaven

There will also be a “classic” difficulty mode, which will be the hardest available to players, which will change gameplay in a fairly significant way.

This mode will rework the way ammunition management and the way the police respond to crimes in a big way, with the aim being to make the game truer to the original vision of the 2002 release of the game.

You can check out the full trailer for yourself below, in which some gunplay and open world exploration is shown off:

Developer Megagon Industries' wonderfully serene (and devilishly infuriating) mountain bike adventure Lonely Mountains: Downhill will be peddling its way to more perilous climes soon, courtesy of its newly announced Eldfjall Island paid expansion.

Eldfjall Island takes the compelling, frequently zen-like, route-finding and time-tweaking core of Lonely Mountain: Downhill's base game and transplants it to a deadly new setting. Here, players can tackle four new trails, which spice things up with the likes of thunderstorms and an erupting volcano, and introduce their own challenges and resting spots.

Additionally, Megagon promises more unlockable outfits, helmets, and paint jobs (plus a new pro helmet), and there are unlockable backpacks this time too.

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If you're looking for a unique and thoughtful puzzle game to keep you occupied this winter, here's something that could very well be up your street.

Made by developer Rocketship Park, Love is described as a "puzzle box filled with stories" that features a rotating apartment block... and the ability to change the past. Players can explore the tenement building and meet the inhabitants, learn their stories, and then rotate the apartments back and forth through time to solve puzzles. And, of course, then make some changes to solve the problems - if only someone could do that to the whole of 2020.

On the game's Steam page, Rocketship Park describes Love as "an experiment in storytelling that combines the rich experience of a diorama with puzzles inspired by point-and-click adventures," and the whole thing is centred around "finding the things we've lost in ourselves and the people who help us find them".

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Promising adventure game Chinatown Detective Agency is getting a generous free prologue on Steam next month.

Day One will comprise three full cases of Carmen Sandiego-style investigating and be available to download from Steam on 30th September.

It's a neat idea for a free trial, designed to introduce main character Amira Darma - a private investigator in Singapore who discovers a global conspiracy.

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Things are getting hot outside - and in game! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are heating up with a block of content offerings. Season 5's Games of Summer chapter runs from August 28 to September 7, and features rewards to unlock, trials, competition, and trouble to get into.

Stickers, calling cards, weapons, and more are available for those looking to get in the mix. It might not be the Olympics or anything but hey, it's a good reason to log in and pop off a few rounds. Oh, there's a rocking new Gunfight map you can take those intimate skirmishes into too. Check out more in the trailer below!

Yesterday we got an extended look at Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but news about Insomniac's exciting action/platformer continues to trickle out. 

In an interview with Famitsu, Insomniac revealed that its upcoming PS5 game features a performance mode that boosts the framerate from 30fps to 60fps. Naturally this performance mode comes with a hit to visual quality, which haven't been detailed yet. We're used to seeing this kind of performance choice on the half step consoles like the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, but we expected that the next generation machines would do away with this kind of option – providing high performance alongside the best visuals. If Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is any indication, perhaps this kind of framerate/visual quality split is an ongoing feature that is here to stay. 

In an interview with @WeeklyFamitsu today we confirmed #RatchetPS5 will offer an option to play at 60fps! https://t.co/HRFKHgDE3c pic.twitter.com/7TdyaTdtAv

Plus, Capcom finally purr-fects Palico armor

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Here’s how cosmetics work in the new Avengers game

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An icy backdrop heats up as a couple faces life-or-death choices

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Apple has made good on its promise to purge all Epic Games content from the App Store if it did not fall in line with the company's terms of service. ...

Kano is looking for a QA Automation Engineer. Could it be you? ...

When someone first starts playing a long-running video game, a ritual begins. Friends who’ve spent considerably more time with the game immediately start asking “Have you gotten to [part that is so iconic as to have become revered]?” You reply “No” repeatedly, but that only builds anticipation. Will the moment live up…

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Call of Duty players can compete for gold medals and glory today through September 7 in the “Games of Summer” event. Styled around the Olympics, the trials are available for both Modern Warfare and the free-to-play Warzone.

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Atelier Ryza 2 introduced new characters Patricia "Patty" Abelheim, Clifford Dizwell, and Volker Abelheim.

The post Atelier Ryza 2 New Character Introductions of Patricia, Clifford, and Volker appeared first on Siliconera.

Mega Evolution has finally arrived in Pokemon Go, giving players the ability to power up certain Pokemon into new forms. In order to Mega Evolve a Pokemon, however, you'll first need to collect that monster's Mega Energy, and the primary way to obtain that is through a new type of Raid Battles called Mega Raids.

These new Raid Battles having you facing off against a Mega-Evolved Pokemon, and they're quite challenging. To help you out, we've put together this rundown on Mega Raids and rounded up some tips to help you conquer each of the new Mega Raid bosses.

What Are Mega Raids?

Mega Raids are a new tier of Raid Battles that will periodically occur at Gyms. These are roughly equivalent to Legendary Raids in terms of challenge, except they feature a Mega-Evolved Pokemon as the Raid boss.

Note: This post spoils some of the story points of Control's AWE DLC. If you'd rather experience those moments in the DLC, hold off on reading this until after you're done.

The folks at Remedy Entertainment have been pretty clear over the years that they would really like to continue the story of 2010's Alan Wake. Despite two DLC additions and a smaller, combat-focused pseudo-sequel, there's been no resolution to the story of the titular writer, who ended the original game trapped by an evil supernatural entity called the Dark Presence.

There are connections to Alan Wake in other Remedy games, but up until now, we've only gotten them as Easter eggs and hints. But Control's final DLC addition, AWE, is very focused on tying the world of Alan Wake to the world of Control. And the end of the DLC makes it very clear: We're headed back to Bright Falls in the future to continue Alan Wake's story.

The Nintendo Switch eShop has some fantastic sales running this week, but the latest crop of deals discounts some of the Switch's best indie games. The Annapurna Interactive publisher sale kicked off alongside Gamescom 2020 and brings markdowns on eight great games, including Florence, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition. The sale runs from now until September 10 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

Annapurna has quietly been publishing some of the most thought-provoking indie games in recent years, and the new sale is a great opportunity to snag some of these gems for cheap. What Remains of Edith Finch, a first-person exploration game about a family repeatedly struck by tragedy, is down to just $8 in the sale. Last year's Telling Lies, a mystery game featuring live-action footage, is down to just $14, while Kentucky Route Zero's TV Edition, which packages the point-and-click episodic adventure in one complete bundle, is just $17.49. The gorgeous rhythm game Sayonara Wild Hearts ($7.79) is another must-play, along with Florence ($3), an interactive novel that'll resonate with anyone who's experienced a painful breakup.

A clever modder has taken one of Nintendo's most successful systems of all time and shrunk it down to the size of another of Nintendo's most successful systems of all time. The WiiBoy Color is a modded Wii that fits into a case that's roughly the size and shape of a Game Boy Color.

A video from modder GingerOfMods showed the process. They say that removing the disc drive actually leaves circuitry that doesn't take up too much physical space, allowing for almost the entire hardware to fit into the much smaller space. They made custom circuit boards and a 3D-printed case, but also borrowed pieces like the screen from a car backup camera, and pieces of a GameCube controller.

The result is about the same max dimensions as a GBC, not counting the triggers on the back for full controller functionality. It also has custom settings to replicate some of the Wii motion functions that are missing from the hacked GameCube controller functionality, like shaking the Wii remote. Altogether it's a very impressive build.

Fortnite: Chapter 2's Season 4 costumes have some entertaining Easter eggs for players to uncover. Mjolnir, Thor's magical hammer, can only be wielded by skins that it deems worthy. The hammer will transform into a boring pickaxe if you hold the hammer as someone else besides Thor or Captain America.

The hammer became a big part of Season 4 after it created a crater in the map last season. Players had to visit the crater while wearing the Thor skin in order to unlock it. Thor's not the only one that can hold it--Captain America deemed himself worthy in both the comic books and franchise of blockbuster movies by picking the hammer up.

Other costumes have special accessories and Easter eggs as well, but they are limited to the specific Season 4 battle pass skins. Some players are disappointed; they wish they could use the special Marvel back blings and pickaxes with any costume.

Fall Guys is getting a $50,000 Twitch Rivals tournament today. Top streamers from all around Twitch will be competing in ten rounds of the game show battle royale. May the best blob win.

The tournament kicks off at 1PM PT / 4PM ET / 6AM AEST on the official Twitch rivals channel. Big names like Félix "xQc" Lengyel and Edwin "Castro1021" Castro will be competing alongside their four-person squads.

On August 27 we got a special preview of the medieval content coming to Fall Guys Season 2, though it won't arrive until October. New games where players need to dodge giant axes and push blocks in order to get over high walls, alongside special knight and wizard skins, are on the way. Developer Mediatonic hopes this keeps the hype around its game alive as the initial honeymoon phase wears off.

Capcom has shared details on Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's fifth and final free update, Title Update 5. Scheduled to release September 30, the patch will introduce yet another Elder Dragon to hunt, along with new gear to craft and a new in-game event to enjoy.

As detailed during today's Developer Diary stream, Title Update 5 will introduce the Elder Dragon Fatalis to Iceborne. Defeat the powerful monster and you'll be able to craft new gear, weapons, and a special costume out of the materials it drops.

In addition to Fatalis, Title Update 5 will bring a new Event Quest. This one will send players off to hunt an Arch-Tempered version of Velkhana. You can take a look at the Iceborne roadmap below.

We're about to enter the final week of Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes event, which means time is running out to earn your special Solstice armor and to knock out key Moments of Triumph. It's a good time to visit weekend vendor Xur and rifle through his offerings of Exotic weapons and armor to get yourself the tools you need. Head to Titan to find Xur this week, on The Rig. For his weapon, Xur is offering Sunshot. Hunters can pick up the Gwisin Vest chest armor; for Titans, there's the Actium War Rig chest armor; and for Warlocks, Xur has the Contraverse Hold gauntlets.

Xur Location

Find Xur by spawning in on The Rig on Titan and heading north and east, along the edge of the area and around the building near the transmat zone. You'll need to go left and under some walkways, through an area populated by Fallen. On the far side, look for a low building to your left, near the edge of the area. Xur is hanging out in the shadows within.

Best Buy's Deals of the Day usually sprinkle in a gaming deal or two, but it's rare that the entire offering of daily deals is catered toward those who play games. Today's one of those days, however: Best Buy is discounting games, accessories, and hardware on its Deals of the Day page. Less than 24 hours remain to take advantage of the markdowns, however, so don't wait if anything catches your eye.

The spotlight deal features the Asus ROG Strix G15 15.6-inch gaming laptop, which is $120 off at $880 today. It comes with 8GB of RAM and a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H processor, plus an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card and 144 Hz refresh rate. You can also save $100 on a pre-built gaming PC from iBuyPower that comes with 16GB of RAM and an Intel i9-10900K processor along with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super graphics card. It's down to $1,500 today.

Several games feature in the sale as well, including a Switch download code for Cuphead for just $15, Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One) for $20, and Rocket League: Ultimate Edition (PS4, Xbox One) for $17.

Doom Eternal is getting a hefty story expansion called The Ancient Gods, and we got our first extended look at Gamescom Opening Night Live. If you'd like to intervene in a heavenly conflict even though you don't own the full game, that option is open too. Ancient Gods will be a standalone expansion that you can buy a la carte.

“When we look at how many people have played through the game we have a large percentage--higher than 2016--that have completed it, so you're always looking at that and seeing how far players make it through your game," executive producer Marty Stratton told PCGamesN. "It's important as we want the DLC to reach as many people as possible. In fact, you don’t even need to own Doom Eternal to buy the DLC and play it."

Aside from not needing to own the game, his comments confirm that you can play the Ancient Gods without having finished the campaign. As he says, the studio is looking to make it available to as wide a player base as possible.

Left 4 Dead 2 has survived longer than anyone thought it would. The 2009 cooperative zombie shooter is still kickin' around, proving that it has the mettle to not die quite yet. It's even getting an update sometime soon.

The Left 4 Dead community is hard at work on a fan-made L4D2 update called "The Last Stand." This isn't your usual effort from a handful of modders, though. The Last Stand has gotten the blessing from Valve, as the official Left 4 Dead site uses its blog section to link to the teaser trailer.

The name refers to the "Last Stand" map that was available in the original Left 4 Dead in Survival Mode. It's also the only map from Left 4 Dead that wasn't eventually included in the sequel. This update will seemingly rectify that.

Here's the official description of The Last Stand: "It has been many years since the infection first hit. Radio silence, no sign of life, nothing but lingering hopes... CEDA is not going to save us. But there is hope! A few brave souls have continued the fight against all odds, and soon we can all benefit from their resilience."

This isn't the first time Valve has lent a hand in the Left 4 Dead community's efforts. Back in 2012, Valve helped the modder-made campaign Cold Stream launch on PC and the Xbox 360 marketplace. After The Last Stand is finished, Valve can help us yet again by getting around to making Left 4 Dead 3.

Nintendo of Japan released a new gameplay overview video for Pikmin 3 Deluxe this week, and while it's not the most substantial update for folks who have played the original version on Wii U (another exclusive bites the dust), if for no other reason, you should watch it to see some super cute illustrations.

I wasn't so sure I'd want to pay sixty bucks for Pikmin 3 again with the Deluxe version on Nintendo Switch, but the closer we get to its October 30 launch, the more this double-dip feels inevitable.

Even if the price stings, the inclusion of two-player co-op in the main story mode and not having to unpack my Wii U to revisit this game means I'll probably get it on Switch – and knowing how much I love Pikmin and how much Nintendo hates putting its games on sale, I'll probably show up day one.

I can't be helped. I'm that much of a sucker for split-screen co-op games.

It seems like one of the best parts of Watch Dogs Legion‘s whole “play as anyone” thing will be all the wacky different kinds of NPCs you’re able to sign on. In a new video, Ubisoft show off a recruitment mission in which DedSec agents help out a beekeeper. Why the heck would you want a beekeeper on your squad? They can shoot out a swarm of nanobees that blast enemies with an electrical discharge, obviously.

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I’m about halfway through my flight from Minneapolis to San Francisco, a trip I’ve taken countless times over the years. Below me, a vast expanse of green and brown extends as far as I can see. I’ve always been curious about what, exactly, I’ve been flying over all these years. I move the drone camera around and dive closer to the ground. Yep. It’s a bunch of nothing. I snap back to the plane and continue the ride. Flight Simulator 2020 offers an impressive recreation of air travel, with faithfully recreated weather, air traffic, and intricate flight models. Aviation fanatics are gushing over its realism, and review scores are high. But do I want to go anywhere near the cockpit of the Boeing 747 I’m tracking? Hell no.

I will have to take your word on it.

I’m not a pilot. I’ve played flight sims periodically over the years, but it’s a genre that I’ve never fully latched onto. I loved flying under the Golden Gate Bridge in F/A-18 Interceptor back in my Amiga days, but my interest probably peaked right around Pilotwings 64. When Microsoft announced Flight Simulator 2020 at last year’s E3, I thought to myself that maybe this could be the one. And I was elated that it was coming to Game Pass on PC – I could check it out without plunking down any additional money. Perfect! And then I played it.

Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho stars in this high school drama

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Plus, Auli’i Cravalho stars in the newly available Netflix drama All Together Now

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The XX files?

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In the more 20+ years since the original released on PC and the original PlayStation, there have been nine mainline Resident Evil games - not to mention a few remakes and plenty of weird ports and wild spinoffs. Now that Netflix has announced a Resident Evil Series, we thought it was worth providing an up-to-date summary of the franchise’s story and take a look at just how Netflix’s eight-episode arc, focused on “the Wesker sisters”,  could fit into the established lore.

Sonic Sound Station Selection Vol. 1 is one for the fans of GBA Sonic games.

The post Sonic Sound Station Selection Vol.1 Features Tracks From Sonic Games Released from 2001 to 2004 appeared first on Siliconera.